How To Eat Healthy While Travelling With Kids

Before having a child it was easy to just pack a bag and head out on a vacation,but travelling with kids changes the whole game.  We now have one extra person to pack for, think about feeding, and prepare for anything and everything that could happen on our trip.  I have always made a valid attempt to eat healthy most of the time when on vacation and now being a Mom, I don’t plan on changing that routine at all.  If anything it’s now more important to plan ahead and ensure we have healthy food on hand for ourselves and our little man. 

I get a lot of questions from parents asking how to eat healthy while travelling, especially when travelling with kids.  Now when I say eat healthy while travelling with kids,I mean about 80% of the time, come on no one is perfect and well vacation till means ice cream and exploring yummy foods too!  One thing I try to do while traveling is maintain my “healthy balanced” mentality that I live while at home also, meaning try to eat healthy 80% of the time and then enjoy life the other 20%.  This is how I find I can enjoy vacation without feeling like I come home 10 pounds heavier or need to “detox” for two weeks after.

Enough small talk let’s get straight to the point!

Here are my 3 Tips for Eating Healthy While Travelling With Kids

 

1. Whether travelling by plane or car, pack healthy food to take with you

Yes, I did this even before I had a little man to worry about, but when travelling with kids it’s almost imperative to ensure you always have snacks on hand (I never leave the house without snacks for myself or Jax lol).  You might be more restricted if traveling on a plane with what types of food you can take with you; however, you might be surprised with what you are actually allowed to take on planes with you.  If you are taking a road trip, try packing up a cooler and throwing it in the back of the car (make sure it’s accessible) and pack it with healthy food for yourselves and your kids.  The last thing you want to be doing is relying on airport, gas station, or fast food options while travelling with kids as this could not only get expensive, but rarely will you find healthier options that your picky little eaters will actually eat.

2. Hit up a grocery store when you arrive at your destination 

When travelling with our little man, we often find a grocery store within the first or second day (depending on our time of arrival) to pick up healthy options for quick meals in the hotel or AirBnB, especially breakfast.  On our most recent trip to Kelowna, BC we found it much easier to have breakfast and lunch food on hand in our AirBnB, not only did it save us lot’s of money, but it kept us eating healthier during the day and saved a lot of time from packing up little man to go find a breakfast spot each morning.  We had family breakfast together before heading out for our adventure and then packed a cooler with lunch foods and healthy snacks to take to the pool or beach, whichever we were doing that day.  We enjoyed dinners out and at that point ate whatever we wanted because we had eaten so healthy during the day, it’s all about healthy balance on vacation right? 

And of course after dinner ice cream cones!  #healthybalance

 

3. Try to book accommodations with a kitchen (or at least a fridge) when travelling with kids

Since having Jax, we find it much easier to book a vacation rental (condo style) over a hotel room.  Not only does it usually give Jax his own room so we can still stay awake and relax after Jax goes to bed, but it also usually means access to a full kitchen.  We have also stayed in hotel rooms, but we ensure the room will have a fridge so we can still have at least breakfast foods and healthy snacks on hand in the hotel room.  Often you can also find hotel rooms that have full kitchens or multiple rooms too, so my advice would be to just shop around for what you think would work best for your family, I always feel it’s more important to be comfortable on vacation and making it feel more like home so you can actually enjoy your vacation, not be stressed out about accommodations.

Side note: often when we travel and stay at hotels we try to get a room with a balcony so that while little man is napping or after he goes to bed we can still sit out on the balcony and play cards while little man sleeps.  This has worked very well in the past as we can still watch him through the glass door or with the baby monitor.

 

Here is a list of some of our favourite foods to pack with us or pick up at a grocery store when travelling with kids

Bring With Us From Home:

• Sliced Cucumbers or other veggies
• Apple slices, Bananas, or Blueberries etc.
• Pre-Made Sandwiches 
• Cheese sticks or BabyBel Cheese 
• Banana Spinach Pancakes
• Crackers or healthy cookie packs 
• dehydrated fruit (apple chips, banana chips, dried apricots/mangos etc..)
• Cheerios
• Healthy Avocado, Banana, and Apple Muffins
• Yogurt Fruit Drops
• Son’s Oatmeal for breakfast in tupperware
• Peanut butter in a tupperware (goes in son’s oatmeal for breakfast)

Buy At The Grocery Store When We Arrive:

• Greek yogurt single packs (For whole fam)
• Protein or energy bars (unless we brought some from home – our faves are Cliff Bars for a quick breakfast or snack on the go)
• More fruit to have as snacks (apples, bananas, berries)
• We normally bring our sons oatmeal in at tupperware with us, but if not we will buy some.
• More cheese strings for little man to have as snacks
• Veggies (I usually just buy a pre-cut veggie tray for ease) and Spinach
• Eggs (when we know we will have a kitchen)
• Bread 
• Crackers or Chips for snacking (hubby needs his chips 🙂 lol)
• Milk for little man
• Avocados ( b/c I can’t go a day without avocado lol)
• Hummus for veggies (my son also loves hummus sandwiches lol)

All of this usually has us set for breakfasts, snacks at home or to take on our daily adventures, and lunch if we don’t feel like going out to a restaurant, then we explore new restaurants for dinner.   I can usually come up with some creative meals with just these ingredients (french toast, avocado egg salad, omelettes, avocado toast, etc….)

What are some of your favourite snacks to take with you when travelling with kids?? Comment below and let’s keep the ideas coming! 

 

Check out my Instagram feed for some of the workouts I do while on vacation (without a gym) to avoid vacation weight gain.